Global English Medium Instruction: Perspectives at the crossroads of Global Englishes and EMI

Abstract

This conceptual article draws together perspectives from the research fields of Global Englishes and English medium instruction (EMI) to explore shared issues, critical perspectives, and future agendas. While embedded in the reality of English being a dominant global language and academic lingua franca, both Global Englishes and EMI lobby for the promotion of multilingual pedagogies, challenge native speaker hegemony, and highlight the importance of multilingual teachers. Both fields strive to balance pragmatic aims to develop students into global language users, while supporting critical movements to resist centre–periphery views of English. To support the perspectives raised in this article, we draw upon scholarship from and about Asian contexts to emphasise research contributions to both Global Englishes and EMI outside the western hemisphere and Anglosphere. The article concludes with calls for more critical research into EMI, which could be informed by further exploration of research at the crossroads of Global Englishes and EMI.